La Palma Princess

A lovely family holiday at the end of August. We flew from Gatwick and got there at 8pm local time. Transfer to the hotel is around 45 minutes and snakes up and down the volcanic area, but once you see the hotel, especially if you are arriving at night, it gets exciting. Staff were a particular highlight as well, big props to the animation team. All in all, a lovely holiday and was well worth it. Worth noting that if you have mobility issues, this hotel is not for you as there is a lot of going up and down from your room to the pool area. Remember to bring your room key to the main restaurant as well.

Spent a week at la palma princess and absolutely loved it, on first arrival late by tui the restaurant was kept open for us and the food was a little tired but we were an hour and a half late, went straight to the bar after and had drinks so checked in late, arrived in our room which looked tired but comfortable, the next day in the light could see the pool area which was stunning, went to breakfast in the main restaurant which was great full English/continetal/spanish which ever you wanted sourdough toast was lovely as were the croissants, and the pancakes and eggs fried or omelette were cooked in front of you and the servers pulled away the trays if they had been there too long, went to the pools and had the pick of whatever pool you fancied no running for sun beds here, had alcoholic slushies at the pool bar and lager which was pour your own, went back to main restaurant for lunch which was good again lots of choice but stuck with the fish and salad followed by cake, back to the pool and then food in the main restaurant the food market for dinner which was nice food the meat was done well all the other dishes were tasty and the salad was fresh, the cakes for afters were to die for, then down to the bar for drinks until 12, we repeated that for a few days then found the pool restaurant for breakfast and snacks and mixed that in to which was a stunning place to eat the food was good and the view was awesome, my partner had her birthday 3 days in to our stay and came back to our room to find a bottle of brut on ice which sums up the staff from the manager javier down to pool attendants really attentive nothing is to much trouble and so welcoming, the bar staff are quick and helpful even while trying to clear a large area and will always stop for a chat about football or music never picky about who they serve and so friendly, the animation team were great would talk to everyone around the pool and try and get everyone involved even if you think the book is a lot thicker than they do, the cleaners are great although you don’t see them every day you know they have been the room which is spotless the towels changed and beds rearranged and changed with pillows back in there allotted spot and even my pyjama bottoms folded and placed neatly on the bed which was a great touch, the lady who cleans the pool toilets can be seen all day passing between the toilets to clean and was friendly every day even just for a passing ola, the cooks in the restaurant and staff for seating you were friendly and helpful nothing is to much trouble even if you are a pain and want to be seated somewhere else it’s not a problem, the staff on reception are helpful and any thing we asked they sorted out no problem, even the maintenance staff who probably had no time to talk were friendly and courteous, what a lovely island and a lovely hotel and the people here are awesome, I had read some reviews before about the food and stuff and I don’t know where these people stay and eat

Let’s start with the pros, the princess resort is beautiful, clean and friendly. The staff are polite, especially the lady who runs the bar souvenir shop. The cleaning staff came to our room every day and did an adequate job. Now the cons, the food was the biggest let down at the Princess Resort. There only two restaurants open despite of what it was advertised on the website. One was the Ocean and the other one was the Food Market restaurant; both serve buffet food. Breakfast had an aisle with fruit and fresh juices which were delicious, one with yogurts and cereals, there was also one aisle with a selection of pastries and breads which were far from fresh. We could smell and taste that the pastries were not fresh, they looked as they were frozen and then fried. We tried to eat a croissant which was so dry and hard that we could have used it as door stopper. The hot food was not good either, the scrambled eggs looked like mashed eggs and they were mixed with some sort of cream or milk resulting on a subtle taste that made me forget that I was tasting scrambled eggs. The fried eggs were oily and the oil used was cheap. The beans tasted as they came from a can, the bacon was ok. We tried eating hot food for the first few days for breakfast but at the end we decided to stick with cereals and fruits and they were the best selection for breakfast. Lunch at the Ocean which is the restaurant by the pool was ok, let’s just say the best thing of that restaurant was the view. They offered burgers, nachos, hot dogs and other fast food along with more fruit and vegs and a small selection of ice creams. Dinner at the hotel was supposed to have a theme, we attended dinners for seven nights and they served Mexican, Asian Fusion, Middle East, Chinese, Western, etc. We could tell the theme by the music, I guess the restaurant manager had intentions to have a cohesive dining experience but honestly the theme missed the mark because either the ingredients were low quality or the cooks were not good, the meat whichever the theme, if it was grilled then it was so overcooked that it turned out dry and hard to chew. The fish tasted frozen and old. The deserts look attractive so we fell into the trap over and over because we could not taste any flavour but sugar. We were on all inclusive holidays which technically included food and drinks. The free drinks included on all-inclusive came from a dispenser and they were awful, nothing was fresh and tasty. If we wanted to have a drink made at the bar, then we had to pay. We learnt from the staff the sometime Princess run promotions resulting on an avalanche of locals which have the capacity to ruin your holiday experience with the never-ending queues of an hour or so to get into the restaurant to have breakfast, lunch and dinner, and overcrowded pool areas and the bar. Last but not least, please be prepared to queue for an hour at the check in because for some reason Tui do not stagger the buses so you can observe two t